create-sidepanel-extension

Scaffold a browser sidepanel extension with Tailwind CSS 4 + shadcn/ui — pick the framework you like.

Usage

npm create sidepanel-extension@latest my-extension
# or
npx create-sidepanel-extension@latest my-extension
# or
pnpm create sidepanel-extension my-extension

The CLI asks which framework to use, or you can pass it directly:

pnpm create sidepanel-extension my-extension --framework plasmo

Then:

cd my-extension
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Load the generated extension in chrome://extensions (Developer mode → Load unpacked).

Frameworks

Framework	Template	Notes
WXT	templates/wxt	Vite-based, multi-browser (Chrome/Firefox/Edge/Safari)
Plasmo	templates/plasmo	React-first, batteries included

Every template ships the same product: a sidepanel that opens when you click the toolbar icon, shadcn/ui components on Tailwind CSS 4, system/light/dark theme support, persisted settings, and full TypeScript.

Demo

Repository layout

├── bin/cli.js        # The CLI (published to npm as create-sidepanel-extension)
└── templates/
    ├── wxt/          # WXT + shadcn/ui template
    └── plasmo/       # Plasmo + shadcn/ui template

Templates are downloaded from GitHub at scaffold time (via giget), so the npm package stays tiny and freshly scaffolded projects always match main.

Developing this repo

pnpm install                  # installs the CLI and the WXT template (pnpm workspace)
pnpm -r build                 # builds the WXT template

cd templates/plasmo
pnpm install && pnpm build    # the Plasmo template is standalone (own pnpm workspace)

Dependency updates (including the whole UI stack) are handled by Dependabot — see .github/dependabot.yml.

Releasing

Releases are tag-triggered (see .github/workflows/publish.yml): bump the version, push the tag, and CI publishes to npm (OIDC trusted publishing) + GitHub Packages and creates the GitHub Release.

npm version <major|minor|patch>
git push --follow-tags

License

MIT — see LICENSE.